Various techniques are known for stopping infestations of ants and other crawling insects, including chemicals that are sprayed from cans and chemical chalks, glues, foams, or substances that kill ants as they crawl and attempt to pass a barrier. During construction of homes, whole construction sites are injected with chemicals to kill all surrounding insects for years to come. The chemicals can leech into the water table and landscaping. Chemicals in some areas (such as a kitchen) may not be desirable and many chemicals may have to be applied frequently to be effective for pest control. Chemical sprays and chalks also disperse into the air and surrounding areas and can settle on food or sensitive items. Some ants may survive the barrier and carry the chemicals with them causing people to be exposed directly to dangerous agents. Other people object to killing all living things, including insects, on religious or moral grounds and therefore are adverse to using chemicals.
Other methods include having small cups filled with water or some other liquid that are placed under table legs. The water acts as a barrier like a moat and typically prevents access to the table, cabinet, or storage area above. However, these alternatives leave much to be desired. Water cups must be filled regularly (they empty relatively quickly due to evaporation) and they are cumbersome when one wants to move the table or cabinet or to clean the floor in the area of the cups.
In the prior art, certain boots are known to have a ring of fur around their tops and this fur may help protect the wearer from insects crawling up the boot, in addition to insulating the boot wearer from the cold. However, there is no known use of feathers for this purpose. Rings of feathers are known in the art, but they are typically used only for ornamentation, e.g. a feather boa used as a fashion accessory. More specifically, feather boas are typically used in novelty and other items such as key chains, hair clips, ladies' purses, collars, costumes, masks, fans, head dresses, bridal wear, flower crafts, dolls, carnival and Mardi Gras items, Halloween items, Christmas items, miniatures, dusters, cat toys, fly tying for fishing, and many other applications. The feathers used in feather boas can include ostrich feathers, to provide large fluffy boas, larger flat turkey feathers, for heavier large diameter boas, marabou feathers, the fine down from marabou to form thin fluffy boas, and chandelle, feathers or “flats” that are used to create lighter boas with smaller diameters. None of these prior art uses teach a feather structure according to the present invention.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for an inexpensive ant (or other crawling insect) barrier device that is chemical-free, easy to use, durable, effective, and appealing to the senses.